January 13th

“I lie awake;
     I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.” Psalm 102:7

night stretches its cloak
over the neighborhood,
as, like a little bird
nestling alone on a rooftop,
i lie awake, tiny enough
so no one notices me,
light enough to be blown away
like the stardust drifting down.
watching the shadows behind
the glowing windows below,
i listen to the pauses
in the heartbeats of life,
and watch over worries
that tiptoe down the streets.
but even in these thin hours,
knowing the ache (as do
so many) of being unseen—
you find me, you find us!
sitting beside our sleeplessness,
offering grace to nourish us,
teaching us that loneliness
is where love waits patiently
to gather us like a parent.
and so, we will rest,
no longer afraid, for you
never forget even the
loneliest of us.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

January 12th

“For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; 

    evil will not sojourn with you.” Psalm 5:4

you have no truck
with those who rely
on their personal morality.
just as you have always done,
you roundly condemn (and
hold accountable) those who
claim some sort of divine anointing
yet like to roll around in muck.
you refuse to be a landlord
for all who traffic in shadows
and never put a place setting
at the table for cruelty.
you will not let evil and anger
become members of your entourage
nor do you pretend hate is holy
or offer lodging to lies.
simply put, you take no pleasure
in words spiked with razor-like barbs,
with our excuses for soft violence,
those sins disguised as good choices.
not because you are prim and proper
but because you love too deeply
to let us drink cups of poison
or eat bread kneaded
with the yeast of bitterness.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

January 11th

"Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness;'" Genesis 1:26a

vision to search out
the furthest galaxies
and to catch a glimpse
of a widow weeping
on her front porch,
hearing to listen to
the cries of the forgotten
and to hearken to that
still small voice in our soul,
hands to reach down
and lift the fallen, as well
as to be grabbed by a
teetering toddler,
feet to run towards those
who are losing their
tenuous grip on hope
and to walk quietly in
the corridors of hospice,
hearts to open wide
to welcome the strangers
and to break in grief
with our closest friends,
souls to know the gentle
touch of wisdom from a
person slipping into dementia
and to be healed by
the butterfly kisses of little kids,
these are the pieces of you
planted deep within each of us,
by your grace, Imaginative God.

(c) Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

January 10th

“I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, "Here I am, here I am," to a nation that did not call on my name.” Isaiah 65:1

when we were waiting for certainty
you kept taking chances on us,
before we knew your name
you had memorized ours.
when we wandered aimlessly
you turned your heart toward the road,
before we knocked
you stood in the doorway.
when we didn’t know where to look
you were keeping an eye on us,
before we knew the words we needed,
you bent down to learn our language.
for that is the way you show up—
love unannounced
grace unearned
hope calling us home,
justice creating new communities.
it wasn’t thunder we heard,
but a soft breath
offering an unyielding promise--
here i am
here i am
and the silence which seemed
to push us apart echoed
with that voice which had walked
toward us the whole time.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

January 9th

“I did not speak in secret,
    in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
    "Seek me in chaos."
I the LORD speak the truth,
    I declare what is right.” Isaiah 45:19

justice does not come
masked, armed, camouflaged
to strike fear and terror,
but comes to lift the forgotten,
to offer welcome to the stranger.
love does not disparage others,
speak falsehoods as if true,
does not covet another’s belongings,
but is content with what it has—
so much that it is willing to share.
grace is not reserved for the privileged,
not sold to the highest bidder,
or seeks to disrupt people’s lives,
but is set out in yards and neighborhoods
with a sign that simply says
‘this is for anyone who needs it.’

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

January 8th

“He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, ‘Is the LORD among us or not?’” Exodus 17:7

those ancestors were good role models.
our throats are a wilderness
named ‘Is God here?’
where we continue to toss
questions – rhetorical as well as trick –
at you every chance we get.
our tongues are dust, but
we will rail against the sky
with every breath.
our lives are like cracked jars,
which cannot hold the clear
waters of faith poured into us—
yet, you do not walk away.
wounded by our thirst for answers,
listening as doubt hones questions
against the whetstone of tomorrow,
you step into our arguments,
striking mercy, not sparks, from rock
and transforming gripes into cups.
may we learn to trust
the spring beneath our questions,
to hear grace flowing, even
as we ask,
‘are you with us, or not?’

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

+Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

January 7th

“The LORD is my light and my salvation;
    whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
    of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1

those wise ones—
did they only see their shadows
beginning that journey home
by a different road, or
was there no need for a star
since love had opened their eyes?
that family—
still hard scrabbling with life,
trying to find someone who could
create new identities and papers,
did they wonder if they should stay
in the shadows of poverty, or
follow the breadcrumbs of grace
back to Egypt?
and we—
with sovereignty being tossed aside
with ice-cold fear stalking neighborhoods
with temptations nudging us to shred
those resolutions to be kinder and gentler,

dare we live and act and trust
that there is absolutely nothing
fear can do to destroy your
hope, justice, grace, love, peace?

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman


Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

January 6th

“Its gates will never be shut by day — and there will be no night there.” Revelation 21:25

as we follow the star
towards journey’s end,
we come, not to a castle keep
but to a welcome,
not to power only for the privileged
but to a child whose breath
swings open the hinge of heaven.
no password is needed, nor passports,
doors are not padlocked with fear,
hope has no curfew,
light streams from the doorways
to welcome strangers from everywhere—
politicians and the poor in spirit,
peacemakers and those who traffic in trouble,
knuckleheads and kids with skinned knees
all walk through wide open doors,
empty-handed, as surprised as anyone
to experience God’s imaginative grace.
for this is the final revelation
the last epiphany
the light at the end of the tunnel—
love’s light always on,
God refusing to lock any door,
throwing away the keys,
knowing what would happen
if we ever chanced upon them.

© 2025 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman